I plan on going, but which route I can ride, or even if I can go at all, will depend on what happens in the next month or two. I've had two surgeries on my scalp in the last 6 weeks and I'm currently waiting to see if it's healing properly.
I'm on immunosuppressants for a kidney transplant I had back in 1998. While the transplant is working fine, the extended use of the immunosuppressants has caused an ongoing battle with squamous cell carcinoma for the last 9 years. I've had it in several areas of my scalp, the lymph nodes in my neck (2017), and in my lungs (2019). I've been going to M D Anderson Cancer Hospital here in Houston, so I'm in good hands. I had a moderately large MOHS surgery for another SCC on my scalp in October of 2020, which was followed by another round of radiation (my third on the scalp) to keep it away. Unfortunately this resulted in a new type of cancer (atypical fibroxanthoma) caused by the radiation treatments. I had surgery to remove this in April of 2021, but due to the prior radiation treatments, it refused to heal. I spent most of 2021 training for Eroica with bandages covering a silver-dollar sized area of exposed skull. This needed to be taken care of.
On October 12, I underwent a free-flap scalp reconstruction. I thought this would be a simple skin graft, but I was wrong. A skin graft gets its blood supply from the tissue it's placed on, but since much of my scalp would be completely removed, they needed to get tissue from somewhere. What the six-hour surgery entailed was removing the latissimus muscle from the left side of my back, placing it in the graft area and microsurgically connecting the vessels of the muscle to the vessels in front of my left ear. Once this was done, a skin graft was taken from my left thigh and placed on the muscle. I spent 5 days in the hospital and all was well. I would not be allowed to wear a hat or helmet until the graft healed, which would take at least a month, so no riding outside.
After being home for a week or so, we noticed an area of the muscle was starting to turn dark. I sent photos to the doctors and, though they said it looked worrying, there was nothing to do until my follow-up appointment several days later. At the appointment, the doctor confirmed that the rear 1/4 of the muscle was dead and would need to be removed. His theory is that the radiation I received in 2019 for the lung cancer damaged the vessels.
I underwent a second surgery on October 29 to debride the dead area and to cover the resulting hole with a synthetic skin graft. If this survives, a real skin graft will be taken from my thigh to cover it in a few weeks, so I have that to look forward to. If it doesn't survive, they need to take a portion of the latissimus muscle from the right side of my back and basically start over again. My follow-up is Wednesday the 24th so I'll find out then what will happen.
On a better note, the doctor has allowed me to start riding a stationary bike, so on November 10, I started riding on Zwift. My watts are down quite a bit, but I'm riding 35 miles every other day at this point. If everything goes right from here on, I should be able to ride the 81 mile route I signed up for. If I end up needing the more involved surgery, I feel I can at least get in good enough shape by that time to do the Piedras Blancas route. I've been keeping my sanity by completing the refurbishment of my 1972 Legnano, and searching for parts for my 1940s Ciclo Piave. I'll post more on those at a later date.
PS: You should thank me for not posting photos.
Last edited by Brad L; 11-20-21 at 02:53 AM.